Polydor Records

On Friday, the 16th of September,  the Video Commissioners Emily Tedrake and Hanan Cher from Polydor Records visited our lesson to give us tips on developing music video ideas and providing us an inside to the industry/career. 

• Polydor Records produces music videos for all music genres 
• when artists sign to the record label, they will have a marketing session about their Image. During the meeting  they will then come up with a brief about the constructed image. Appealing to their wants and need, according to budgets they will then put them in contact with appropriate directors. 
• After the meeting, they will then create a treatment and send it out to 10 suitable directors. 
• Before the actual shot a shot list is required to avoid problems. 
• Communication is vital, to manage the teamwork and creative process. 
• Most videos take 2 months from the initial idea to the video's delivery. 
• The shooting time will often be one to two days. 
• Shoot in LA, London, Barcelona & Denmark. 
• Like to work with new directors, to develop unique images. 
• Good directors are defined by the final quality product and their reliability. A director that is constantly developing new ideas. 
• Madel- big director that discovered Kanye west. 
• The director will select the editor. 
• The company only has one in-house editor, for emergencies  
• They often work with branding
• To brainstorm narratives, they often use film clips and test the narrative by playing the music over the action. 
• They often go for one concept ideas to avoid confusion and secure an easy well-done video.
• A good music video has a visual ark, either in the form of a change from day to night or the build up to a big party etc. to accompany the music and visualizes. 
• Get multiple different angles, while shooting a performance to prepare for the artist's vanity.

• In a treatment: 
• There is a written version of the treatment, which is often accompanied with pictures, video clips and further references, to make sure everyone has the same image in mind. 
• DON'T USE UNREALISTIC REFERENCES, to avoid overdelivering the concept.
• use bold imagery to catch the director's attention within the first paragraph. 
• The brief must convey the artist's personality.
• The detail must be selectively applied in the treatment to reinforce the artist's priorities and values. 

WE then looked at a series of their video production, in combination with their treatments. Jax Jones song House work had a unique video production, which was rapid and very successful.

• the video was produced in a single week. 
• the video was edited in a day. 
• in the brief the artwork was the liquid bottle
• the video plays on multiple references
• The movie Joy was incorporated in the brief, since it was the inspiration for the video.

• website: Promo news